Behind Our Masks: and other games we play
by Silver Witch
Summary: Harry has a secret he's keeping from Ginny as he prepares for the hunt for Voldemort. Ginny has a secret she's keeping from Harry to spare her heart. The world has secrets they haven't even begun to guess...
1. Secret Identity

A/N: No these aren't my people. For those of you who read my fics, I'm sorry I haven't been on in forever. I've had a lot of life-changing episodes, all at the same time, and for a while, I didn't even know if I would ever write anything again. Yes, I will continue The Three Fates, and Secret Devotions, and Learning By Doing, and I will post (for the last time) the story named Again to follow Almost. I just am not doing this yet…

Oh, and if Jeanne reads this…I'm sorry I'm failing a loyal reviewer such as yourself.

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Ron's Decision

Hermione Granger stomped up the stairs to Ron's room at the Burrow. She knew Harry was up there, and she'd had enough. She was determined to give him a piece of her mind.

"All right, Harry!" she snapped, slamming the door behind her. "You're going to tell me everything, especially why you've been sneaking out in a magicked disguise every day since you've arrived."

Ron glanced at Hermione in surprise, then studied Harry.

"Yeah," he said, just noticing the behavior she referenced, "Where _have_ you been going?"

To their great surprise, Harry actually blushed. "Well, I met someone at Diagon Alley a few days before I came here this year, and I've been going to visit them."

"Who?" both Ron and Hermione asked simultaneously.

Harry studied the floor in front of him. He seemed to think for a moment, then mumbled, "A girl."

Hermione looked horrified and Ron looked livid. Harry, realizing how he sounded, having recently broken up with Ginny, rushed to explain.

"No! Not like that! She's just a friend. I was walking around in the disguise we created, and I accidentally ran into her. She was on an errand for her boss, and she dropped everything she was carrying. I helped her pick it up, and she told me what a wanker I was the whole time."

"Nice way to begin a friendship," Hermione sniffed, still smarting for her friend, Ginny. "Is she pretty?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess so, but I've never really thought of her that way. She's so serious and driven to prove she's mature and responsible, and she hardly laughs at all. I've sort of starting going out of my way to make her laugh."

Ron frowned. "Have you thought of how Ginny would feel about this?"

Harry glared at Ron. "Do you think I ever stop thinking about your sister? I'm killing myself with wanting to be around her, but I'm trying to protect her! I spend every thought wondering if she hates me, if she understands why I'm doing this, if she's trying to move on…I think she'd be ok with me having a friend."

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "I think you're using this girl to replace Ginny, so that you can talk and laugh and make some girl smile because you don't feel like you can do that for the girl you want right now."

Harry sighed and hung his head. "You're probably right, Hermione. But what other choice do I have?"

"What's the other girl's name?" Ron demanded.

"Ev…that is, Evelyn Fairs."

Hermione continued to question Harry about how well he knew his friend Evelyn, but Ron stood and stepped outside the door.

"Oh, bugger," he swore softly. "She'll go spare."

He headed down to the kitchen in search of his only sister.

"Gin?"

Ron found her humming over a batch of cookies she was just pulling out of the oven. Ginny did not look like she was pining over Harry in the least.

"You seem happy," Ron commented, somewhat cynically.

She swung around, her face flushed in embarrassment "Ron, I didn't hear you come in."

"I wanted to see how you're doing with Harry in the house and all," her brother pressed, "I know how upset you were when he dumped you."

Ginny stared quizzically at him, frowning slightly. "Yes I was upset, but not as much as you'd think. I knew why he did it, and he never said it was permanent. Harry doesn't think he'll be around a lot, and he's still not sure if he can defeat Voldemort, so I didn't think it would hold up well, especially after the death of Dumbledore."

"So you don't care that Harry broke it off?" Ron asked, sitting down while Ginny began sliding hot cookies onto a sheet of newspaper to cool.

"Of course I care, Ron," she replied a bit testily. "I'm not going to say I don't. But I understand why he did it, and I have other friends."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. How's things been going since you took that job at Diagon Alley?"

Ginny smiled, and Ron was struck by how little he'd seen that expression on his sister's face recently.

"Ron, taking that apprenticeship from Mr. Ollivander was the smartest thing I've ever done. Not only did I find a future career that I'm pretty good at and that I like, but I found a friend who's helped me put all the hurt over Harry on the back burner for a while."

He gritted his teeth and asked the question he didn't want to hear answered. "That friend wouldn't happen to be a bloke named Malaki Birch, would it?"

Ginny stared at her youngest brother in shock. "However did you find out about him? Never mind, I don't care how you know, Ron, leave him alone."

"Ginny, I…"

"No!" she cried, threatening him with a wooden spoon. "I mean it, Brother, mine. What ever you're going to say, I don't want to hear it. Ki is a good friend of mine and he doesn't even know my real name. Leave him out of this. I refuse to allow you to play the big brother role. He isn't a threat in any way, shape, or form."

Ron took a deep breath before meeting his sister's eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to know, Gin?"

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, Ron. Whatever it is, this time, I just don't care."

"Ok then."

He left the kitchen and started back up the stairs, only to run into Hermione on the landing.

"I'm going to see what Ginny thinks of all this," Hermione announced.

Ron was far more mature than most people gave him credit for, and he loved Ginny beyond any other family member. Even his unexpressed feelings for Hermione couldn't surpass that devotion.

"No," he said, thrusting out an arm to hold her back. "We're staying out of this. It's something between Harry and Ginny."

Hermione fumed, "I happen to know Ginny's been seeing someone in secret, we've got to talk to them!"

Ron's voice fell low and even. "It's between Harry and Ginny."

"And whoever else those two are involved with!"

Ron's laughed was mirthless as he shook his head. "Trust me on this one, Herm. This is completely between Harry and Ginny, and I'm not letting anyone..not even you…get involved."

The brunette stared at him in shock. "Why not even me?" she asked in a breathless sort of voice.

Ron sighed and thought of all the confusion between Harry and Ginny that was caused by a lack of honest communication, and met Hermione's eyes with determination.

"Let's go talk."

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Ok, there it is. Review!


	2. The Apprentice

A/N: I apologize for the long delay. There are no excuses that will suffice, so I apologize and present you with this. Enjoy.

Ginny rushed into the quiet shop, breathless from having run from the Leaky Cauldron. Mr. Ollivander stood there watching in amusement for a moment before speaking in his slow, raspy voice.

"Good morning, Miss Ev. Your young friend, Ki, has been in to see you this morning."

Ginny sighed and took off her coat. "I'm sorry I missed him. I'm also sorry I'm late. There aren't too many more days before school starts again."

Her employer nodded. "Yes, several first years will be in for their wands today. Seems Hogwarts is still safer without Dumbledore that the rest of the world."

Ginny nodded and sighed, reaching for the wand she'd been working with the day before. "I will miss him."

Ollivander nodded, but didn't speak. In fact, neither spoke until the door opened nearly an hour later. Then Mr. Ollivander spoke to the customer, for Ginny was in the back, trying to match the wand she'd made with a magical core.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had offered to take Fleur's little sister Gabrielle to get her first wand. Harry had really offered to take her because he wanted to see Ev again, having missed her early that morning. Ron and Hermione went along, Hermione to see this girl he'd become friends with behind Ginny's back. Ron went to protect both him and Ginny, though he didn't mention that to anyone.

They neared the store, wearing the disguises they wore so as not to be recognized. Once they neared Ollivander's, Hermione brightened.

"Good, maybe Ginny's here today," she chirped.

"Ginny works here?" Harry asked. "But, Ev works here, and I've never seen Ginny in there once."

Hermione looked confused. "That seems odd."

They went for the door, and Ron sucked in a breath. He didn't want to see Harry's face when they all found out what he already knew. On the other hand, he did want to see Hermione's.

The entered the building, and Mr. Ollivander smiled. "Hello, welcome to my shop. Little Gabrielle Delacour, getting her first wand. I don't use veela hair for my wands, but perhaps we can find one that is acceptable anyway."

They began the ordeal of finding a wand for Gabrielle. None of the wands seem to take to her, and even Mr. Ollivander began to lose hope.

"Let me ask my apprentice what she thinks," he suggested. "Ev has quite the eye for these things."

"Mr. Ollivander," Ev's voice carried from the back. "I've finished the wand!"

"That's her," Harry said excitedly to Ron and Hermione.

The apprentice in question walked out, but to Harry's surprise, it was Ginny who carried the wand.

"It's excellent, Miss Ev," Ollivander smiled. "Let's let our small guest try it out."

He handed the wand to Gabrielle and immediately she smiled and waved it, emitting a shower of gold and silver sparks.

"What was the core?" he asked the young woman beside him.

"I combined a core of unicorn hair and a dragon heartstring. It was the only thing that seemed to fit."

"Fit it did, with the wood and this girl."

"Wait…Ginny is Ev?" Harry exclaimed, forgetting he was still in disguise.

Ginny looked at him in shock.

"Ki?" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here? And Ron? I thought you promised to leave him alone."

Harry dropped his disguise, and Ginny gasped.

"Bloody hell, not you, Harry!"

///I know, this is a short chapter. But this is a natural stopping place for the chapter.


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